


A New Routine

by RobinVenetiaa



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith, Strike (TV 2017)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, I don’t like charlotte, i do feel bad for Lorelai, idk what this is, strike contemplating i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:42:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26823100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinVenetiaa/pseuds/RobinVenetiaa
Summary: Cormoran contemplates the ways the different women in his life have treated him and his leg.
Relationships: Robin Ellacott/Cormoran Strike
Comments: 10
Kudos: 74





	A New Routine

**Author's Note:**

> Um, I don’t know why I started writing this but I did so I’m posting it. This is more show based so if I’m off on his thinking/history, that’s why. No beta. Hopefully it’s okay.

Cormoran eases back on the sofa, letting out an exasperated sigh as he relaxes for the first time in days as he waits for Robin to arrive home.

_ Bloody leg. _

He’s hurt it. Again. 

He’d caught it on an uneven step from all the never ending construction on Denmark street. It’s not the worst injury he’s had and he suspects his new exercises and routine has helped take the edge off.

It’s different this time. A bit easier. 

It always is with Robin.

He contemplates this as he sips from his beer, ignoring his urge to smoke since he promised himself he would cut back.

His missing limb and the women in his life have been fraught with pain and embarrassment up until recently.

Ciara was a bit too fascinated with his leg for him to feel truly good about their dalliance. She wanted to take it off for him, touch the marred skin of his knee and spend time giving it attention that he’d rather she give other parts of him. But Ciara was sweeter, more astute than he’d expected and she noticed his discomfort so she moved on. It was a slow, hazy shag after she took a pill and he knocked back another whiskey. He was thankful she had a fun night and left it at that.

Ciara’s brief interest in his leg reminded him of a few unfortunate encounters with women who were more interested in his leg than him. He was aware that there was a fetish for nearly everything imaginable but being reduced to nothing but your amputated leg really puts the damper on the mood.

He nearly preferred when women were disgusted by it. It happened less often than he expected and while they had all been polite in their haste to end their evenings early, the panicked look in their eye when they came face to face with the reality of his disfigurement still stung.

Thankfully, the amputee enthusiasts and detractors were few and far between. Most of the flings and one night stands were kind and tried to stay somewhere between mild concern and ignoring it entirely.

Lorelai was good about his leg and it makes him feel even worse for how he ended up treating her. She rarely mentioned it even when he was struggling but his crutch would appear beside him as though she conjured it up. She didn’t ask if he needed help when he was in pain but a painkiller would show up with a glass of water next to it.

When it came time to remove his prosthesis she would focus on a book or if they were being intimate she would busy herself by tossing their discarded clothes on the chair in the corner.

He truly appreciated her discretion and that’s part of why he went to her when he injured himself. Ilsa and Nick would fuss over him as would Lucy. The person he really wanted to go to…

…it was more complicated at the time.

Lorelai had continued walking that fine line while he was holed up, injured at her flat and for the first time in years he allowed himself to be taken care of. He wishes he did more to thank her. He wishes he was more honest with her instead of pushing her away but still struggles with what he would have said.

_ I know we’ve been casually dating for nearly a year now but I had only planned on a drunken one night stand to distract myself from the woman I recently realized I’m in love with who also happens to be my business partner because she got married to a twat who cheated on her and still went on their honeymoon and I feel sick whenever I imagine them together. _

That wouldn’t have gone over much better than hiding from her did but she at least deserved the truth instead of his cowardice.

He’d had a few women mollycoddle him. He had even foolishly thought it’d be a good way to get a girl home in his younger days. 

_ “You poor thing. Let me take care of you.” _

They would treat him like he was made of glass, that he was weak and brittle as opposed to the bear of a man he was. 

Even the tone of their voices sounded less like seduction and more like a mother even as they undressed him. It was disorienting and whenever he got home he’d feel a bit sick to his stomach.

Charlotte was the worst of all, though not at first.

When he first came home after his injury she was by his side every step of the way. She was his taxi to every bloody appointment, helped him with physio exercises and held him when the pain and nightmares were too much to bear. For those first few months, she was the perfect, loving, caring girlfriend of the wounded war veteran.

She’d even done interviews with the papers and tabloids talked about how the young, beautiful and wealthy socialite chose to stick by and care for her newly disabled boyfriend. She could have any bachelor in London but there she was with the poor (literally and metaphorically), one-legged, bastard son of an aging rock star. What a saint, she was.

But the public accolades faded as did her patience. The exciting nights out he accompanied her to in the past were no more. It took months for what was left of his leg to heal before he even began fittings for a prosthesis and even longer for him to adjust to it.

He couldn’t do the things for her that he had done before as hard as he tried. As time went on she used her previous sacrifices for him as ammunition against him. How could he be mad at her after all she had done for him? For years, it would come back to any sacrifice she had made for him when he was at his weakest as a means to manipulate him.

He had learned to do everything in his power to avoid being a burden to anyone. If he never depended on anyone, then they could never throw it back at him later.

Robin is different than all of them.

He smiles as his thoughts drift to her, he feels more calm and the ache of his leg dulls. 

Even before they officially got together, Robin had never shied away from his leg yet managed to give him freedom he needed. She never treated him like he wasn’t capable yet had no fear of calling out when he was acting like a martyr. 

It still took a few months of them being together before she ever tried to truly deal the day to day care of his leg for him. She usually left him to remove it and use any cream or medicine on it at the end of a long day when they both wanted to let their heads hit the pillows and fall into a deep sleep.

On other nights(or evenings or mornings or the occasional afternoon), when they couldn’t keep their hands off each other he’d fumble his way to removing his leg. A very naked Robin pressed against his back, with her beautiful, pink lips kissing from his shoulder to his neck and anywhere else she could reach while her hands dipped into his boxers making the usually simple process much more challenging. 

It wasn’t until he stumbled home late one night after a long day on his feet tailing a suspect that she finally tried to take the responsibility of his leg on herself. 

He had barely made it up to the flat. He cursed and groaned nearly every step of the way but Robin had at least granted him the dignity of getting himself all the way up on his own. She was there when he opened the door and wordlessly helped him to the chair. He accepted it as it wasn’t unusual for her to lend support when he was in pain.

After catching his breath, he unbuckled his jeans but moaned in pain when he moved to stand to push them off. She rushed to help him and he already felt the bitterness swelling in him. Once he eased his jeans down and sat himself back to the chair, she reached for his prosthesis to begin removing it. This was a line they hadn’t crossed and he pushed her hands away.

“I’m not a fucking child.” He barked out at her. 

She stood, her arms crossed and a very unimpressed eyebrow raised. “You’re acting like one.”

He glowered up at her but he knew she was right.

Here he was sweaty and aching and miserable when all she wanted to do was help him. He felt small, weak and when looked up at her, he felt entirely unworthy of her. He dropped his head back down and stared defeated at the floor.

She sat down across from him and waited until he was ready to meet her eye. When he looked at her he didn’t see the pity he had expected, that he had seen on the rare few who he had allowed to see him so low. Instead, he saw concern and affection.

“Cormoran, I just-“

“M’sorry-“

Neither can help their smile but he waves a hand for Robin to continue.

“Cormoran, I know this part is hard for you. I know people in your past have made you feel…” She searches for the word but he nods at her, he understands and is rewarded with her warm smile. “I’m helping you because I love you. You’re not on your own now. We’re partners and we take care of each other.”

He leans forward to take her hand in his, playing with her fingers while he works up the courage to speak. “I don’t want you to resent me.”

Robin laces their fingers together and gently squeezes his hand. “When I wake up with a panic attack and you rub my back or go make me tea or hold me while I cry, do you resent me?”

He shakes his head instantly. “God, never. Robin, I would never.”

“Even when it’s 4 am and you barely got to sleep cause you were on late night surveillance?”

He squeezes her hands back. “No. I just want to help, whatever you need.”

She looks at him pointedly.

“So why is me wanting to help you with your leg any different? Especially when I can see you’re in pain.”

He opens his mouth to argue then closes it. He simply nods, understanding her point.

“So quit acting so moody and show me how to remove your damn leg.”

He pauses briefly but eventually talks her through the process as she deftly works to remove it. He groans in relief when it’s finally off and Robin sets it aside.

She turns back to him and he can see in her face that while she’s touched he let her help but she isn’t done yet. “What will help it now? Is an ice pack best or your cream? Paracetamol?”

He grins at her no nonsense approach, nods. “All of it.”

“How about this? I’ll grab your crutch and you get changed into comfy clothes while I get you something to eat and a cuppa. We’ll apply your cream, we ice it for a bit then we go to bed. Good?”

“We?” He likes that.

“Yup. You’re gonna show me what to do so from now on you’re not on your own with your leg. Partners, yeah?”

She holds out her hand, waiting for his. He takes her delicate hand in his and shakes it before bringing it to his lips to kiss. A gesture he saves for moments like this, that mean so much to him.

For what feels like the thousandth since he met her, his world shifted that night so she was the center in another previously private corner of his life.

Now at the end of their day, she took on the process of caring for his leg as often as he did. He’d even grown to enjoy it, look forward to it even, especially after a difficult day.

He’d read to her while she applied his creams or iced it after a long day just as he’d hold her and stroke her hair when her anxiety got the best of her.

Partners in everything, they were.

He hears Robin making her way up to the flat and can smell the curry she has with her. 

“Hiya. How’s the leg?” She smiles brightly at him before setting her bags down on the table.

He tries to match her smile but it’s thwarted with a grimace when he shifts in his seat. “Hurts.” 

“Bloody construction. Well, I come bearing dinner and an ice pack.” She tosses the frozen pack to him when she finds it in her tote.

He catches it easily. “You’re an angel, aren’t you?” 

“Don’t think angels do what we did the other night.” He grins and gives her a wink and gets her beautiful laugh as a reward.

He watches her flutter around the tiny kitchen, putting together their dinner as he ices his leg and wonders for the millionth time how he got so lucky to have Robin in his life.

And when she sits next to him, their dinner in hand and a smile on her face he decides that all the pain and awkwardness his missing limb has caused might have been worth it for how easy it is with Robin.

  
  



End file.
